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Disaster on the Little Big Horn River – General Custer and Seventeen Commissioned Officers Among the Killed.

SALT LAKE, July 5. – A special correspondent of the Helena (Montana) Herald writes from Stillwater, Montana July 2:

Muggins Taylor, a scout for General Gibbon, got here last night, direct from Little Horn river. General Custer found the Indian camp, of about two thousand lodges, on Little Horn, and immediately attacked the camp. Custer took five companies and immediately charged the thickest portion of the camp. Nothing is known of the operations of this detachment as they traced it by the dead. Major Reno commanded the other seven companies and attacked the lower portion of the camp.

The Indians poured in a murderous fire from all directions, and, besides, the greater portion fought on horseback.

Custer, his two brothers, nephew and brother-in-law, were all killed, and not one of his detachment escaped.

Two hundred and seven men were buried in one place, and the number killed is estimated at 300, with only thirty-one wounded.

The Indians surrounded Reno’s command and held them one day in the hills, cut off from water, until Gibbon’s command came in sight, when they broke camp in the night and left.

The Seventh Cavalry fought like tigers and were overcome by mere brute force.

The Indians loss can not be estimated, as they bore off and cached most of their killed. The remnants of the Seventh Cavalry and Gibbon’s command are returning to the mouth of the Little Horn where a steamer lies.

The whole Custer family died at the head of their column. The exact loss is not known, as both Adjutants and Sergeant Major were killed. The Indian camp was from three to four miles long and was twenty miles up the Little Horn from its mouth. The Indians actually pulled men off their horses in some instances. I give this as Taylor told me, as he was over the field after the battle.

The above is confirmed by other letters, which say Custer met a fearful disaster.

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal,

July 13, 1876

Follow-up: Custer began his military career as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Civil W. He served under General George McClellan and became known for his aggressive tactics. The battle of the Little Big Horn occurred June 25, 1876

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A Story of the Civil War

Last year the soldiers’ re-union at Gettysburg took place on the 2nd of July [1888]. John Sheeby of this city, was there, and in his stroll over the famous battlefield, he wandered into the old wheat field, where on the 2nd of July, twenty-five years before, his battery had poured the red hot shot and shell into the rebel ranks, and down in a little ravine he found a shell that had been thrown by the enemy into the devoted columns of the Federal forces. He brought home the relic. Mr. Sheeby works in Kelly’s foundry in this city and is an expert molder. He melted the iron shell, cast it into a large well-proportioned eagle with outstretched wings, and now has a memento of the great battle in a convenient and appropriate shape. On either wing is a date and an inscription, explanatory and commemorative of the great event. John wouldn’t take a fortune for his find, and he deserves credit for the neat way in which he has fixed it up.

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal,

July 5, 1889

[Note: Wouldn’t it be neat if this item could be found?]

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.